On August 4,
security forces in Hanoi detained Catholic Priest Dang Huu Nam from Phu Yen
parish, Vinh diocese as they suspected him of organizing uprising against local
authorities, according to local social networks.

Priest Nam, who
often speaks out to criticize Vietnamís authorities, said he was detained by
security officers in plain clothes when he took a lunch in Cau Giay district. He
went to Hanoi for medical check.

During the
detention, police officers interrogated him, accusing him of receiving financial
support from the U.S.-based pro-democracy Viet Tan (Vietnam Reform Party) for
organizing anti-government demonstration.

After finding no
evidence for their accusation, police were forced to release him at 5 PM of the
same day. However, the security forces in the capital city have still been
following him closely in next days.

The Nghe An
province-based outspoken priest has been under constant harassment of local
authorities. In late 2015, he was attacked by dozens of plainclothes agents in
witness of Hanoi police.

Vietnam has
around seven millions of Christian followers who have been under discrimination
of the local authorities who try to closely monitor all religions.

Meanwhile,
Catholic priests in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces have called on local followers
and residents to attend the Environmental Day [August 7] to clean the local
areas and rally on streets to demand the government to take urgent actions to
recover the maritime environment after the illegal discharge of huge volumes of
toxic industrial waste by the Formosa Hung Nghiep steel plant of the Taiwanese
Formosa Plastic Group in Ha Tinh.

Local activists
have reported that Vietnamís government is deploying numerous police officers
and army units to Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces to deal with peaceful
demonstrations of local residents.

Ha Tinh
provinces, together with Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue, is the
locality suffered most by the environmental disaster caused by Formosa illegal
toxic chemical dumping. Hundreds of tons of fish massively died in April-June,
making hundreds of thousands of local fishermen and tourism-related businesses
have no incomes while the governmentís supports for them are modest.

Vietnamís
authorities have violently been suppressing activists who have peacefully voiced
to demand Formosa to clean environment in the affected areas before leaving the
country, and request the government to bring those officials responsible for
granting the license for the Taiwanese company as well as for failing to monitor
its toxic waste dumping. Hundreds of them have been detained and many of them
were tortured in policeís custody.